Yikes!
What are ‘Yikes!’?, I ask you?
For me, they are about the sudden, unforeseen occurrences in life that, left un-acted upon, can turn into major tragedies - but these tragedies are averted within a hair’s breadth - and that’s what makes them a ‘Yikes!’ moment.
I had one tonight.
In fact - not more than 7 minutes ago (it could have been 6, or even 5; heck! Maybe even 4 - but 7 has such a magical ring about it that I figured that by using it, it might protect me from any cascading effects from the ‘Yikes!’ moment itself.
“What”, you are probably asking, “exactly happened!?”.
Good question.
Well, I’d just poured myself a huge glass of water over ice, and brought it back here, as per usual, to drink as I wrote my blog.
Now, because it’s been so hot out, I’ve taken to covering the coaster on my desk with a paper towel to absorb all the excess moisture, the condensation that forms on the glass in this extraordinary heat, thereby avoiding the possible puddling and the inevitable suction caused by said condensation between glass and coaster, which results in the coaster coming up with the glass, when raised, and dropping dramatically back down on to the glass desktop with a frightening clatter.
Speaking of the desktop, I should also mention that the glass top of my desk is raised about 3 inches above the actual surface by metal ‘pillar-ettes’; this, in turn, leaves a space under the glass on which objects, such as external hard drives (I have 2 there), floppy drives (I have 1 there), and various other technical equipment can be placed without it intruding on the surface of the desk - it’s quite nice, really.
But it’s ‘niceness’ is beside the point.
So, I’ve just come in to write and, having got a full glass of water and ice, I proceed to set it down on the coaster (covered by a paper towel…).
Of course, the paper towel is bigger than the coaster and the result is that I set the glass down on the edge of the hidden coaster.
I’m usually good about judging ‘where things lie beneath’ - but this time - I wasn’t.
I set it far enough off on the side that the glass tipped over immediately and water and ice poured across the glass top of the desk and spread toward the back.
I might not have mentioned that the 2 hard drives were accompanied by about A MILLION other electrical items, all of whose plugs, were directly below the fan of water that was spreading out across the top of my beautiful glass-topped desk.
Of course, I righted the glass immediately, but it was a second or two before I could fully appreciate what was taking place here; that the possibility of water and ice running directly into my power sources and causing everything to short out (including my iMac!) was soon to become a reality, and the repercussions of such a thing, became quite striking. Not to mention the lamp, whose base was now covered with ice and water and the cord, of which, seemed a snake in a shallow lake (the phone too!).
Rousing myself from the too-slow assessment of the situation, I dashed off into the bathroom and grabbed a towel to begin mopping everything up before it ran off the back of the desk and directly into the electrical outlets.
Lifting phone, lamp, speakers, etc., I frantically mopped things up, thinking all the while that I could just as easily be electrocuted by picking up these ‘live’ items soaked in water - and were that to happen, and I ended up knocked unconscious, it would be just my luck that an electrical fire would then break out and the whole place be burned to a cinder.
That’s a ‘Yikes!’ moment.
Now, you know.
Luckily, the water did not run off the back of the glass-topped desk (as far as I know…) and I was not electrocuted by picking up the sopping wet lamp (as far as I know…); sometimes it takes awhile to assess these things.
Is there a lesson here?
A bullet dodged?
Yes.
Don’t cover your itty-bitty coaster with a HUGE paper towel because you cannot see the edges of the coaster!
Oh.
And perhaps it’s best not to place a full glass of any sort of liquid on the desk top at all but, rather, put it somewhere off to the side - on another surface - where it will be safe…
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